1859 Obituary of Gamaliel Bailey.
The Liberator, Boston, Massachusetts, July 1, 1859. [6]
c 1822 Gamaliel Bailey Jr and Alesenia Bailey were named on a directory listing of the Charge of Old St George Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia. [1][2]
1859 Gamaliel Bailey dated his will on January 15 in Washington, D.C. The will named wife Margaret L. [3]
1859 Gamaliel Bailey died at sea and was buried at Congressional Cemetery, Washington, District of Columbia, District Of Columbia. [4] [5]
Physician, journalist, editor and publisher of various abolitionist newspapers, the offices of which in Cincinnati and Washington, D.C. were repeatedly attacked, besieged or ransacked by pro-slavery mobs during the 1840's. His nationally-circulated The National Era serialized Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1851-1852.
Dr. Bailey died of heart failure on June 5, 1859, while en route to Europe aboard the steamship Arago. His remains were put on ice, returned aboard the steamer Vanderbilt, and buried at Congressional Cemetery on July 5 of that year.
His widow, Margaret Lucy Shands Bailey, died in 1888 and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown. On January 7, 1889, at the direction of family his remains were disinterred and reburied next to her at Oak Hill, in an unmarked grave.
From the National Intelligencer.
DEATH OF GAMALIEL BAILEY, ESQ. Amongst the items of the Persia's news, a large portion of the American people will have observed with regret the announcement of the death of Mr. Gamaliel Bailey, the proprietor and editor of the National Era, of this city. About a dozen years ago, Mr. Bailey, who was a native of Mount Holly, N.J., conceived and executed the bold idea of establishing a newspaper in Washington, devoted mainly to the anti-slavery cause. The Era being a literary as well as a political journal, achieved much celebrity from the publication of Mrs. Stowe'sUncle Tom's Cabin,' which first appeared in its columns, and which at once gave it a large circulation.Mr. Bailey, who was personally a most amiable and talented gentleman, has always maintained his paper at a very high standard of literary excellence, and has asserted his political opinions with a courteous and dignified boldness and independence that have won for him the respect of all who knew him. Seeking relief from a wasting disease in a foreign clime, he died before reaching land, on board the Arago, on the 5th instant. There are very few men, we believe, who have ever succeeded as he has in conducting through a long period of years a partisan newspaper, and gone to their graves with as unsullied a character for uprightness, honesty, and high-toned independence.
Mr. Bailey was accompanied on his intended tour, thus early terminated in death, by his eldest son, Mr. Marcellus Bailey, from whom intelligence has been received, stating that he took his father's remains to Havre, in order to bring them home in the next steamer for the United States, which is the Vanderbilt. This ship, according to the published programme, was to have left Havre on Wednesday last, and may be expected at New York about the 3d of July.
The death of Dr. Bailey, the editor of the National Era, will be deeply regretted by a large circle of friends, including a host whose only acquaintance with him was through the columns of the paper which he conducted with such distinguished ability and regard for the rights of man. It is not a little singular that there should be any doubt about the name of one who has been so long before public. In his paper he was styled simply 'G. Bailey'. The telegraph and many papers announced him as 'George Bailey'; some of his correspondents and friends named him 'Gamaliel'; and the New American Cyclopedia calls calls him 'Gideon.'
Be this as it may, we learn from the last source that Dr. Bailey was born at Mount Holley, N. J., Dec. 3, 1807. At nine years of age, he removed with his parents to Philadelphia, where he studied medicine, and received his medical degree in 1828. After making a brief visit to China, in the capacity of physician to a ship, he began his career as an editor, in Baltimore, in conducting Methodist Protestant. In 1831, he removed to Cincinnati, and was there appointed physician to the cholera hospital during the raging of the pestilence. The expulsion of some of the students from Lane Seminary, on account of their anti-slavery sentiments and efforts, first prompted him to reflections on slavery, and to political action against it. In 1836, he joined James G. Birney in conducting the first anti-slavers newspaper in the West, the Cincinnati Philanthropist. During this year, their printing establishment was twice, once at midnight and once in midday, assailed by a mob, the press thrown into the Ohio river, and the books and papers made a bonfire of. After the withdrawal of Mr. Birney, he became the sole editor, and the mob which then assailed his establishment was dispersed only at the point of the bayonet. On the establishment of an anti-slavery paper at the seat of government in 1847, he was selected by the projectors of the scheme to be its editor, and went to Washington to enter upon his new duties. As the paper did not pay its expenses during the first year, the society which supplied its funds determined to stop it. Dr. Bailey, however, purchased it, and has since conducted it with great success. In 1848, he had his last conflict with popular violence, when a mob for three days besieged his office.
The Era had a high literary character, and many literary works have been published from its columns. The most remarkable of them is Mrs. Stowe's famous Uncle Tom's Cabin, which began to appear in the Era in June, 1851.
Dr. Bailey left New York on the 28th of last month, in the steamship Arago, intending to make a tour in Europe for the benefit of his health, and he died, it appears, on the 5th inst., in mid ocean. Lieut. Gov. Raymond, of the N. Y. Times, who was a fellow passenger with him, writes that he did not consider himself to be seriously ill,-at least, that his lungs were not affected -but that a long continued dyspepsia, and the nervous excitement which his labors had induced, had combined to bring about the weakness under which he suffered. For the first two or three days he was upon deck for the greater part of the time. The weather was fresh, though not unpleasantly cold, and the sea not rough enough to occasion any considerable discomfort. The motion, however, affected him disagreeably. He slept badly, had no appetite, and could relish nothing but a little fruit now and then. His eldest son was with him, and attended upon him with all a son's fond solicitude, but he probably had no other acquaintance on board with the exception of Mr. Raymond. He was cheerful, social, and talked with interest of every thing connected with public affairs at home and abroad. He suffered some inconvenience by being obliged to descend two pairs of stairs to' his room. Occasionally a couch of cushions was made for him upon deck when he became fatigued, -but this made him too conspicuous for his taste, and he seemed uneasily fearful of attracting attention to himself as an invalid. His strength continued to fail, and on Thursday, 2d inst., from stopping too long upon deck, he took cold, which kept him to his room the next day. Otherwise he seemed about as usual through that day and Saturday, and on Sunday morning seemed even better saying that he had slept unusually well, and felt strengthened and refreshed. He took some slight nourishment, and attempted to get up from his berth without assistance; the effort was too much for him, however, and his son, who had left the room at his request, but stood at the door, saw him fall as he attempted to stand. He at once went in, raised his father, and laid him upon the couch. Seeing that he was greatly distressed in breathing, he went immediately for Dr. Smith, the surgeon of the ship. Mr. Raymond met the son on deck, and, hearing of his father's condition, went at once to his room, and found him wholly unconscious, breathing with difficulty, but perfectly quiet and seemingly asleep.Drs. Beadle and Dubois were present, and had endeavored to give him a stimulant, -but he was unable to swallow, and it was evident that he was dying. He continued in this state for about half an hour,his breathing became slower and slower, until finally it ceased altogether, and that was all. Not a movement of a muscle, -not a spasm or a tremor of any kind,-betrayed the moment when his spirit took its departure. An infant, wearied with play on a Summer's eve, could not have fallen asleep more gently. His remains were placed in ice, and taken to Havre, from which they will be returned to New York by the Vanderbilt, which left on the 18th. He leaves a wife and six children.
The Transcript remarks that Dr. Bailey was no less remarkable for his amiable temper and generosity of heart, than for his commanding talents and rare devotion to humanity. On taking up his abode in Washington, he found that the friends of the cause he was advocating were almost entirely excluded from fashionable society, and therefore threw open his house on Saturday evenings for their entertainment. Although these social reunions were at first exclusively attended by members of Congress who sympathized with him in opinion, and other temporary residents of Washington, they finally became so popular, and so noted for the amount of talent attracted to them, that liberal men and women of all parties literary persons, artists and distinguished foreigners-were in the habit of attending them.
[1] Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985, List 138, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].
[2] Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].
[3] Washington, D.C., U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1737-1952, [AncestryImage].
[4] Find A Grave Memorial 112859556, [FindAGrave].
[5] Find A Grave Memorial at Ancestry.com, [AncestryRecord].
[6] The Liberator, Boston, Massachusetts, July 1, 1859, page 3, [NewspapersClip].